Is it time to buy a CO2 Scrubber

[luvinreefer]

Hi All,

I've only had my tank up for about a week. I purchased all the LR, Live stock and water from a stable reefer so while my tank is new it is kinda not. Any way the guys water wasn't ideal as it turns out. I have been improving my parameters through water changes and I have been dosing Kalk and Mag. Current stats are Mag-1050, Calc 310, Alk is around 8. Nitrates are now 20-30 ppm down from 50 and Phos are down to .01. My PH however is low, 7.65 and seems to be staying there. Even dripping kalk doesn't seem to really budge it. It seems to fluctuate between 7.6 and 7.69. It's a 80 gal system with a 65 DT and I live in a small 1 bedroom Apt. Leaving the sliding door open does help but it just drops back down a night.... So the question is do I buy a CO2 scrubber or is this something which will improve in short order? I do have some LPS and he had some SPS he removed from the tank but what he left behind seems to be trying to bounce back.

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I’d get your parameters stable before heading to a CO2 scrubber. Your calc and mg are WAY LOW. Bring calc up to 420-450 range and mg to 1250-1350 range and then see what the ph does. Your major elements aren’t in balance. Get those set and see what the tank does. With Mg too low, alk and calc won’t stabilize because they will precipitate out.

 

[luvinreefer]

Thanks, I've been working on doing just that. Limited by how much I can move them in a day but I should add they are all up from where I started. Alk is up to about 9 from 7, Calc is just below 400 up from 300, Mag is around 1150 up from 1000. Slowly but shorely they are getting where they need to be. I have not seem any improvement in PH though and it is clear that if I leave doors open it ticks up. My apartement even feels stuffy.

 

[Billldg]

Ph will drop at night because of the lack of photosynthesis from the algae during the night. I would hold off on the C02 scrubber for a little. Let the tank settle and then see where you stand. Are you breaking the surface with the powerheads, this will also raise the Ph as it releases the C02 from the water. It only works though if the C02 in the room is low as well.

 

[redfishbluefish]

How are you measuring pH? A pH that low would mean a fairly high CO2 issue in your appartment. The issue with CO2 scrubbers is that they get expensive real fast. You end up going through that media very quickly. I've seen people have to change out the media every couple days.

 

[Adamantium]

How are you measuring pH? A pH that low would mean a fairly high CO2 issue in your appartment. The issue with CO2 scrubbers is that they get expensive real fast. You end up going through that media very quickly. I've seen people have to change out the media every couple days.

On the flip side, I haven’t changed my media in a month and a half (and it still probably has 1/3 left). I use the recirculating method, which seems to be key.

 

[luvinreefer]

I have an Apex and yes it's calibrated I also back it up with a Red Sea test every once in a while. Yea, I read running a scrubber gets $$$.. Not sure I will have much of a choice.

On a different note I have good news and bad news. I feel the need to rat myself out. I was not using the 1ml syringe correctly. I was filling it with solution all the way to 1ml. This caused all my tests be off by atleast .1 ml. Thank God I watched a vidoe of someone doing a Alk test and learned this. As it turns out all of my parameters with the exception of PH are right where they need to be. Today I left the door open all day and my PH has hit a new high of 7.72.

On a bad note it's looking like a case of Dino's has started.

 

[arking_mark]

So a couple thoughts here.
1. Anything below 7.8 is too low in my opinion
2. A refugium on reverse lighting cycle will bump your night numbers up
3. Kalk should be having a nice impact on the pH
4. If you are using a skimmer, it will quickly bring your tank to equilibrium with the air CO2. So if your air is the cause for low pH, the skimmer will counteract your Kalk.
5. If you plumb your skimmer intake to outside air or a CO2 scrubber, #4 is no longer an issue and your tank will be pushed to equilibrium with those sources.

If you really want to dial in your pH:

Tuning a Skimmer / CO2 Scrubber for pH Control

On my reefing journey, I found Kalkwasse + Skimmer + CO2 Scrubber to be very effective for bringing my pH from 7.8 - 7.9 to 8.26 - 8.36. I guess most people would just leave it at that. However, I wanted to be more efficient with the CO2 scrubbing material so I wanted to implement a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[PeterC99]

Agree with others - get CO2 scrubber. Took my pH from 7.9 to 8.3. Cheap, easy to setup, and very effective.

 

[luvinreefer]

So a couple thoughts here.
1. Anything below 7.8 is too low in my opinion
2. A refugium on reverse lighting cycle will bump your night numbers up
3. Kalk should be having a nice impact on the pH
4. If you are using a skimmer, it will quickly bring your tank to equilibrium with the air CO2. So if your air is the cause for low pH, the skimmer will counteract your Kalk.
5. If you plumb your skimmer intake to outside air or a CO2 scrubber, #4 is no longer an issue and your tank will be pushed to equilibrium with those sources.

If you really want to dial in your pH:

Tuning a Skimmer / CO2 Scrubber for pH Control

On my reefing journey, I found Kalkwasse + Skimmer + CO2 Scrubber to be very effective for bringing my pH from 7.8 - 7.9 to 8.26 - 8.36. I guess most people would just leave it at that. However, I wanted to be more efficient with the CO2 scrubbing material so I wanted to implement a...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks, yea I set up a fuge with cheato two days ago which is running on an oppisite schedule. Maybe helped a little? I can see about plumbing the air intake on the skimmer to outside. That might be a temp solution or at least give me a better idea if it is in fact the air I am breathing....

 

[luvinreefer]

Agree with others - get CO2 scrubber. Took my pH from 7.9 to 8.3. Cheap, easy to setup, and very effective.

Thanks.. I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on one..

 

[Shirak]

What are you using to measure salinity? Could be low which would bring down your other parameters also.

 

[luvinreefer]

What are you using to measure salinity? Could be low which would bring down your other parameters also.

Hanna Salinity checker... It's sitting at 1.023...

 

[Shirak]

Hanna Salinity checker... It's sitting at 1.023...

Increasing your salinity to 1.026 and your other parameters will increase noticeably as well.

 

[luvinreefer]

Increasing your salinity to 1.026 and your other parameters will increase noticeably as well.

Good to know. I will do just that. Thanks

 

[Pistondog]

Get the water parameters under control and try to keep a window open, even a Crack is enough to lower co2.
Plumb skimmer line to outside. Co2 scrubber media is expensive, vs this.